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One of the cornerstones of CityBeat's annual State of the Arts issue has been our ranking of the most influential people in Cincinnati arts, which we've presented in one form or another since 1997. Although an entirely subjective undertaking by our arts editors and writers, the lists have served as a snapshot of the overall health and direction of the area arts scene.
The early lists were dominated by influential donors and business leaders, who in the mid- to late-1990s attempted to start a formal arts council to market and coordinate the arts via possible use of public funds. That effort ultimately failed.
As the decade and century turned, the creative leadership of Cincinnati's big arts organizations solidified and boosted each other, helping form a new arts "golden age" here. Not many U.S. cities — certainly few of Cincinnati's size — can boast of long-running symphony and pops orchestras, successful opera and ballet companies, the country's oldest choral music festival (May Fesyival), a Tony Award-winning regional theater (Playhouse in the Park), a 125-year-old art museum, a 65-year-old contemporary arts center housed in a new world-renowned building, another completely renovated downtown art museum (Taft), a completely renovated theater and art center in an old library (Covington's Carnegie), new neighborhood arts centers (Covedale, Kennedy Heights, Madisonville and one to come in Clifton) and a thriving theater scene (16 different local companies received nominations in the 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards).
In addition, all of these organizations and more are supported financially and structurally by what's considered the country's best community umbrella group, the Fine Arts Fund, which this year is funneling more than $10 million to almost 50 different area arts outlets. On the other end of the spectrum is Enjoy the Arts, which often introduces college students and young professionals to the arts via ticket discounts and high-profile programming like the "20/20 Festival."
In recent years our list-making dovetailed with the emergence of the "creative class" concept that recognizes a correlation between a city's arts offerings and authenticity and its success at attracting and retaining young professionals.
Although the business community and the mainstream media have seized the creative class idea recently and beaten it nearly to death, there's no denying that Cincinnati's future vitality is connected to our arts' continued excellence.
Take a look at the "influentials" lists from previous State of the Arts issues and see how the area's priorities — and CityBeat's interpretation of the arts scene — have shifted. For brevity sake, I'm listing only the top three from each issue.
1997: 1) Otto Budig, philanthropist and arts board member; 2) Richard and Lois Rosenthal, philanthropists and arts board members; 3) Joe Hale, Cinergy Foundation and arts board member
1998: 1) Budig; 2) Patricia Corbett, philanthropist and arts board member; 3) Ed Stern, Playhouse in the Park producing artistic director
1999: 1) Durk Jager, Procter & Gamble CEO and chairman of that year's Fine Arts Fund drive; 2) New Regional Cultural Alliance executive director (position never was created); 3) Budig
2000: 1) Tom Neyer Jr., Hamilton County commissioner who spearheaded efforts to fund the Regional Cultural Alliance, which didn't succeed; 2) Hale; 3) Dale Hodges, actress and member of Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Hall of Fame
2001: 1) Stern; 2) Paavo Jarvi, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director; 3) Heather Hallenberg, director of Fine Arts Fund's arts services office
2002: 1) Jim Tarbell, chair of Cincinnati City Council's arts and culture committee; 2) Lisa Mullins, Enjoy the Arts executive director; 3) Budig
2003: 1) Thom Collins, senior curator at Contemporary Arts Center; 2) Bill Donabedian and Sean Rhiney, founders of MidPoint Music Festival; 3) Emily Buddendeck, visual artist and director of SSNOVA gallery at the Mockbee Building
2004: We recapped the first seven years of influential arts people, with no rankings; we did list, however, the people who appeared on the most rankings (six times): Charles Desmarais, Contemporary Arts Center director; Hallenberg; Mary McCullough-Hudson, Fine Arts Fund president; Jasson Minadakis, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival artistic director; the Rosenthals; Stern.
2005: Again, no rankings, but instead a list of the 25 people in Greater Cincinnati who "get it done" in the arts — from Christine Arnison, who was directing Madcap Puppet Theatre after the sudden death of founder Jerry Handorf, to Tracy Wilson, longtime community relations director at Cincinnati Opera.
And that brings us to this year's State of the Arts, which as usual sees a city and region in flux.
A lot of attention has been paid to the recent news that Cincinnati is losing more population, as a percentage, than any other American city. Yet the area's arts organizations remain strong, and artists continue to call Cincinnati home (see the artist roundtable discussion on page 25).
Covington's efforts to build economic growth via investment in the arts (see "The Art of Urban Pioneering" on page 36) might be model for other local communities, particularly Cincinnati, to follow. Everyone talks about the "creative class" concept of tying a community's sustainability to its creative residents, and now this region needs to stop talking and start doing that very thing.
For this year's list of "influentials," we decided to revist our 2003 ranking, which presented 25 people CityBeat thought should be influential in the coming years verus who was influential at that moment. It was the "creative class" approach to shaping the local arts scene, back when it was still a novel idea that these people had more in common than just their youth and their interest in the arts.
The main thing they had in common, and still do, is that Cincinnati's future as a major city greatly depends on how well they — and thousands more like them — harness the creative energy here and point it in the right direction. These people are our future, literally and figuratively, and to ignore them or underutilize them would be a disaster.
How well has Cincinnati done to keep these young creative people engaged in the city's future via the arts? Pretty well, if you look through the following list — we've updated where most of them are now vs. 2003 and asked several to share their thoughts on the State of the Arts in Greater Cincinnati.
Less than one-quarter of the 35 people on the 2003 list (20 most influential plus more than a dozen "other influentials") have left town, unfortunately including our No. 1 person, the CAC's Thom Collins. For a city losing population, that's not a bad track record.
1. Thom Collins
Then: Senior curator, Contemporary Arts Center
Now: Director, Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York at Purchase
Collins was to be the lead creative force as the CAC opened its critically acclaimed downtown building; under his direction, CityBeat said in 2003, "we expect the CAC will be stimulating us for many years to come." Things didn't turn out as expected, as both Collins and CAC Director Charles Desmarais left town in the year after the new facility debuted. The CAC's creative mantle fell to Matt Distel (No. 9).
2. Bill Donabedian and Sean Rhiney
Then: Founders of the MidPoint Music Festival
Now: Still running MidPoint, which returns for its fifth year Sept. 20-23; Donabedian serves as managing director of downtown's Fountain Square
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
Donabedian: In some respects yes, in others no. When I think of all the cool outlets we've lost, everything from BarrelHouse to The Mockbee, I think no. Then I see things like InkTank and Know Theatre getting a permanent home, and I think yes. At some point in time we need to gain critical mass. Until that happens, I think we're stuck in the middle. I hope to use Fountain Square as a tipping point — I hope Cincinnati is ready.
Q: Do you think you're more or less engaged in a leadership role among Cincinnati artists/performers/creative types (compared to 2003)?
rhiney: I've always just considered myself a small part of this great big scene, and this is what I do: I write and play music, I promote music and arts and I do my best to expose what many of us already know about the folks who create art in this town. I enjoy being an Indian as well as a chief. Volunteering for Know Theatre or the Fine Arts Fund and freelancing for CityBeat or Cincymusic.com about some great band that blew me away is as interesting to me as getting geared up each year to run the MPMF behemoth.
3. Emily Buddendeck
Then: Artist and founder/director of the SSNOVA gallery at The Mockbee
Now: Creative strategist at InkTank; SSNOVA is defunct and The Mockbee is no longer open on a regular basis
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
A: For as big as the arts community is in Cincinnati, I don't feel as though it's really moving in a direction, so much as it shuffles and turns itself over. There's about the same number of hot spots as ever — not more, just new ones in place of those that have folded and a few tried-n-trues that've managed to stick around. But where I see Cincinnati sorely lacking is in the realm of public art. It drives me crazy to hear about how great the arts institutions are here and what a burgeoning art scene we have, but if you aren't in the know of where to go (i.e. someone visiting for business or pleasure), you'd have no idea that this is an arts town. I don't understand why we don't have a public art fund, and lack of money is a poor excuse. Cincinnati should be wearing art on its sleeves.
Q: Do you think you're more or less engaged in a leadership role among Cincinnati artists/performers/creative types (compared to 2003)?
A: In many ways I feel as engaged as ever but with new people I hadn't met before. I now work at InkTank, so I deal more with writers than visual artists these days — and I get paid, as opposed to being a complete volunteer at SSNOVA. I still act as a mouthpiece for the arts in anything I do, as I feel the arts are necessary to quality of life and have the power to transcend barriers for better understanding among people who are different in whatever way.
4. Eric Avner
Then: Associate director, Cincinnati Business Committee
Now: Same
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
A: Mostly. The building boom over the last few years has resulted in some world-class facilities, and the creation of the Regional Tourism Network was critical to expand the reach of our arts and culture attractions into other markets. However, I'm still seriously concerned about the capacity of our community to preserve the excellence of our existing cultural assets, especially as we begin to contemplate ambitious construction plans of several of our high-profile institutions. It's one thing to say, "Cincinnati has great arts and culture," but quite a different discussion to agree — as a regional community — on a sustainable way to financially maintain and enhance our arts and culture infrastructure.
Q: Do you think you're more or less engaged in a leadership role among Cincinnati artists/performers/creative types (compared to 2003)?
A: I'm more personally involved helping specific organizations that I believe will fundamentally change the way our community experiences art and culture. I see Enjoy the Arts, for example, as the pre-eminent organization to broaden local arts audiences. I see Know Theatre and the Fringe Festival able to produce incredibly diverse programming at a large enough scale that Cincinnati will be known for celebrating — not merely tolerating — our progressive creative energy.
5. Hollis hammonds
Then: Executive director, The Artery gallery in Newport (known as Laura Hollis)
Now: Having changed her name to Hollis Hammonds, she teaches at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky University and UC's College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning; she's exhibition coordinator at the Art Academy's Pearlman Gallery; she occasionally shows her own artwork locally; The Artery is defunct
In 2003 CityBeat said, "Creating and sustaining The Artery has been an uphill battle — the building has recently changed owners, for instance — but you can trust that she'll keep fighting the good fight on behalf of alternative arts." New name, same mission.
6. William Menefield
Then: 22-year-old Jazz pianist with a career already full of albums and awards
Now: Recent graduate of UC's College-Conservatory of Music
Menefield continues to perform in high-profile gigs around the area, from the "It's Commonly Jazz Series" to Cincinnati Opera's "Opera Goes to Church" event to the Cincinnati Symphony's "Classical Roots" shows. He was nominated for Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Jazz in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
7. Ran Mullins
Then: Founder of Metaphor Studio advertising/marketing agency and of Over-the-Rhine advocacy group iRhine
Now: Same
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
A: I still believe that there are too many turf issues between organizations and they should spend less time fighting over who will get specific donations and more time collaborating and marketing themselves as a unified arts community. We still lack unified marketing. I'm extremely passionate about developing the macro view strategic marketing and image campaign for Cincinnati that showcases all of the arts/creative we have to offer.
8. James Czar
Then: Manager of information systems, Enjoy the Arts
Now: Creative director, Rosetta Stone Studios
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
A: I'm very excited to see several solid theater companies emerge from the "new theater explosion" of the late '90s, with many of them now in permanent homes and growing steadily — Know Theatre, New Edgecliff and Queen City Off Broadway being the best examples. The gallery and general cultural scene in Cincinnati seems to be in flux, having less to do with the organizations and the artists and more to do with real estate and business. Downtown and Northern Kentucky seem to be in the most volatile shakedown of the past 10 years, with businesses and entertainment options spread out and vying for a stake in the many, many "entertainment districts" that have emerged. And this isn't a bad thing.
Q: Do you think you're more or less engaged in a leadership role among Cincinnati artists/performers/creative types (compared to 2003)?
A: These days working in the for-profit sector, I try to be as engaged in the arts community as I have the time to be. My company has been a major sponsor of the Fringe Festival, the Cincy Blues Fest and even the upcoming "20/20 Festival," offering our services in photography and video production as an in-kind donation. I'm currently working on a documentary on the Blues scene in Cincinnati that will, along with the Blues Fest itself, continue to build our city's reputation across the Midwest and possibly the country.
9. Matt Distel
Then: Assistant curator of exhibitions, Contemporary Arts Center
Now: Executive director, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, N.Y.
His departure earlier this year severed some of the final ties to the creative braintrust that opened the new CAC facility (see Thom Collins, No. 1). With the arrival of new Senior Curator Toby Kamps and the continued work of Exhibitions Coordinator David Dillon (see "Others" below), the CAC is poised for a great yet still uncertain future.
11. Xian Zhang
Then: Guest conductor and faculty member, UC's College-Conservatory of Music
Now: Associate music director, New York Philharmonic
12. michael dewees
Then: Founder/operator of popular local music-centric Web site Cincymusic.com
Now: Same
13. Brian Isaac Phillips and Nick Rose
Then: Directors, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival
Now: Phillips is the organization's artistic director, now operating as Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; Rose is no longer officially affiliated with CSC but continues to act locally (he just won a 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Supporting Actor)
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
Phillips: In many ways the community has and continues to achieve a great deal and move in the right direction. There seems to be a great deal more collaboration between the theaters in town, which leads to a very supportive environment and creates fertile ground for more growth down the road.
Q: Do you think you're more or less engaged in a leadership role among Cincinnati artists/performers/creative types (compared to 2003)?
Phillips: I would think that I'm much more engaged than in 2003. We have pulled the company out of its financial woes while expanding the size and budget of the organization in a healthy and sensible manner. We've become a full member of Actor's Equity Association as well and offer more contracts for actors than ever in the company's history. There's something very important and profound about being able to pay people for their work and craft — it's a point of pride for this company.
14. Annie Bolling
Then: Founder/operator, Annie Bolling Gallery
Now: Same, partnering with local arts veteran Phyllis Weston
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
A: I think we continue to move in the right direction by tapping into the talent that's here now — by exhibiting local emerging artists while maintaining our support of Cincinnati's better-known artists. We have to keep doing this to avoid losing our artists to other cities. And of course, when the media also recognizes why we see the value in what we exhibit, the validation and impact on the greater population propels us even further in the right direction.
15. Jay Kalagayan and Matthew Pyle
Then: Directors, Know Theatre Tribe
Now: Kalagayan is executive director of what's now called Know Theatre of Cincinnati, which has a new permanent home at 1120 Jackson St. in Over-the-Rhine; his main creative partner is Artistic Director Jason Bruffy, who also oversees the Cincinnati Fringe Festival; Pyle is no longer affiliated with Know
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
Kalagayan: The Cincinnati arts/creative community is moving in a positive direction. Artists are staying in the city and are dedicated to creating something unique here. Many of Know Theatre's staff and artists live blocks away from the theater. I'm really excited about the nearby freshmen dormitory of the Art Academy showing art students that you can live and work in Over-the-Rhine. The artistic community is growing slowly, with some backpedaling. More collaboration is necessary to make it grow. Person to person, generation to generation, race to race — it's essential that strong connections are made to create a solid foundation for this fledging artistic community. The only thing I feel lacking is that artists need to experience other art and support other artists: Painters should see dance, actors should go to a gallery opening, poets need to check out a play. The only other thing I feel lacking is the public attendance, the audience for these works. People who say nothing is happening in the city aren't looking whatsoever. They're blind.
16. Laura Lowe Everhart
Then: President, League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT)
Now: Founder, Granted by Everhart, an organization that helps non-profits write grants and find other revenue sources
LCT continues to promote the area theater scene and serve as a networking outlet for area actors and theater staff.
17. Kendall Bruns
Then: Artist, recent Art Academy graduate
Now: Same, all grown up
Q: Do you think you're more or less engaged in a leadership role among Cincinnati artists/performers/creative types (compared to 2003)?
A: I haven't actively pursued any kind of leadership role, so any perception of one is due to leading by example. If that's the case, then I'm doing more than ever before. As an artist, designer, musician, filmmaker and digital DJ, I'm constantly producing and presenting my work to the public.
18. Brian c. Mehring
Then: Scenic designer, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati
Now: Same; he just won a 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for his scenic designs for ETC's production of Wayfarer's Rest
19. Nick Accurso and Patrick Johnson
Then: Directors, Scribble Jam
Now: Same
Q: Is the Cincinnati arts/creative community moving in the direction you think it should be?
Accurso: Over the last few years Cincinnati has opened its arms to different "street forms" of art. For a while artists here have been heading toward different mediums, from spray paint to wheat paste to whatever comes to mind. Cincinnati has always had its key artists, like Eric Lowenstein, who have been ahead of the game in originality, but now I'm starting to notice a lot of the younger generation of artists stepping up and taking risks in a manner that's on point.
Q: Do you think you're more or less engaged in a leadership role among Cincinnati artists/performers/creative types (compared to 2003)?
Accurso: As Scribble Jam grows throughout the world, I feel that I'm definitely still moving forward in making Cincinnati a hotbed for music and culture. Scribble Jam now brings thousands of outsiders into Cincinnati each year who help allow artists in the area to make connections as well as expose themselves to fans of the arts in many areas. And as kids decide to pick up a skateboard instead of a football, our skateshop Anonymous continues to be highly influential. As Cincinnati moves forward, I too am always searching and developing to keep one step ahead.
20. Annie Ruth
Then: Poet, Taft Museum's Duncanson Artist-in-Residence
Now: Founder of the non-profit Eye of the Artists Foundation, which presents "My Sista, My Friend Young Women's Conference and Sisterhood Gathering" Oct. 27-28 at the Hamilton County Community Action Agency in Jordan Crossing; the foundation also focuses on effective collaborations between community-based artists and African American museums and schools.
Others
Robin Harrison: Still producing arts events under her company, Hip-Notic Concepts (Tha Blast IV on Sept. 29)
Mike Uhlenhake: Architect and Over-the-Rhine activist has taken over the space once known as The Projects at 13th and Jackson streets
David Dillon: Works at the Contemporary Arts Center and continues to be a beacon in the gallery/arts district in Brighton via his Semantics Gallery
Gary Wright: His Citizens to Restore Fairness did just that, finally getting the anti-gay Article 12 out of Cincinnati's city charter
Lyle Benjamin: His Queen City Off Broadway theater company has a new venue, the Cincinnati Artists Warehouse in Northside, and their new season starts this weekend.
Sarah Ioannides: The former Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor is now music director of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra.
Taylore Mahogany Scott: The former Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival company member moved to New York City but is back in town and was spotted at the recent Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.
Nicholas Spencer: One of the first "creative class" advocates, he ran twice for City Council (unsuccessfully) and has become a bar owner and festival organizer; his alchemize bar reopens in Northside next weekend.
Sara Vance: Remains the highest profile "next generation" arts philanthropist and board member
Spencer Yeh: Remains a vital experiemental artist and musician; see his participation in the artist roundtable on page 25. ©
